


Meant To Be

by badskin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Outlaw Queen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-01-25 17:50:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1657121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badskin/pseuds/badskin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pairing: Robin Hood & Regina (Outlaw Queen)</p><p>Rating: M</p><p>Summary: From Robin’s POV, after Charming, Snow and Evil Queen reclaims their kingdom. Robin goes out to hunt but unexpectedly meets Regina.</p><p>A/N: My take on the OQ “relationship” from the missing year in the EF. It’s been years since I last wrote a fic so please bear with me. I am not good at multi-chaptered fics but I want this to stretch as long as 6 chapters or so. Not beta’d so I claim all the mistakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Enchanted Forest, 8 months ago…_

It was days ago when they finally arrived at the Evil Queen’s kingdom. Everything seems to be just quiet. The Wicked Witch has not since appeared and they all got settled on the reclaimed castle.Robin ambled out of the spacious room, rolling his shoulders to stretch the kinks out, and glanced at the window. It was just a little after twilight. He glanced at Roland’s sleeping form on the majestic bed and smiled. He looked so peaceful, and it gave him peace that for now, they are at the Evil Queen’s castle, safe and sound from the Wicked Witch. It was too dangerous to go back at Sherwood Forest, with all the flying monkeys around. He then cleaned up dressed and finally got his lincoln green jacket, strapped his arrow bag and slung his bow on his shoulder and got out of the room. He thought an early morning hunt would be good, maybe catch a deer or a rabbit. He didn’t want to feel useless around The Prince and Snow, and especially to the Queen. Robin walked along the grand hallways and out into the castle, and as his lungs hauled in that first breath of fresh air, it felt like diamonds for his soul. For days, it had been rainy and blustery cold, but now finally there was some payoff. A balmy, spring breeze brushed his skin, the thin fog felt soft and liquid-cool. Green was bursting everywhere. Violets and trillium were coming up in the woods, daffodils budding by the castle walls.

  
He didn’t realize he was walking towards the west gate—the border between the castle and the Enchanted Forest until he saw her. Actually at first, he couldn’t make out exactly who was standing by the forest path, the fog was blurring his line of vision, but there was someone. Maybe a dark apparition?  
He walked slowly towards it, and whoever it was does not notice him, until he realized who it was. No one, but no one had taken his heart like this in years.  
She was wearing a long black gown, satin quilted, her waist jeweled with obsidian, and a shawl hung over her shoulders, her long black hair covering her satin shoulders along her neckline, her arms in front of her with split seamed sleeves. Everything about her appearance was regal, but her eyes tells an opposite story. He’d seen how she wanted to end it all, how she wanted to give everything all up because of her son that she could never see again. She saw the loneliness in her eyes that he knows all too well. The pain to bear for having someone you love not be with you anymore. Those dark brown eyes of hers were deep as a river. She was looking out towards the forest, a serious expression on her face.  
Robin could have sworn that he intended to turn around and walk away before Regina caught sight of him, but somehow he seemed to walk more towards her instead. She startled in surprise when she suddenly found him standing next to her.

  
"Just like a thief you are. Always sneaking up on people."

It was the first thing she said, and in the same ornery tone she’d spoken to him when they first met.

"I was just about to go out to the woods to hunt for food, and what seems to be her Majesty doing out here at a time like this?" he asked her.

  
"None of your concern."

  
He ignored that.

“Surely, you are not thinking about going out for the witch alone? Your Majesty, you cannot do this all by yourself. No one could. She is a formidable foe, the Prince and Snow are already rebuilding an army and in a few days all will be ready, even my Merry Men would help—”

  
Without turning toward him, she lifted a finger in the air. Thankfully, Robin loved a woman who could communicate without words, so he just grinned. Until he realized that she was still staring towards the forest.  
"Don’t even think about it, Your Majesty. You can’t really do it alone."  
She turned towards him, and tipped those river deep, dark brown eyes at him. “Were you under the impression I was asking your opinion about anything?”  
So sassy. So rude. So much fury. He was tempted to kiss her. Not a little kiss, and not an old neighbor friendly peck, either. A kiss that might shake through her anger. A kiss that might touch some of that fierce, sharp loneliness. A kiss that might make him feel better—because right now it ripped him to watch a beautiful Queen hurting and it confused him that he wanted to help her but did not have a clue how or even why she makes him feel things… The impulse to kiss her invaded his mind for several long seconds and stung there like a mosquito bite, itching, swelling, daring him to scratch it. Then thank heavens, he came to his senses. Certainly he had his stone-headed moments—didn’t everybody? But Robin wasn’t usually driven by lunacy. He zoned to something concrete as fast as he could get his words out.  
"If anything, I want to be of your service, your Majesty. Let me go with you."  
"Do not act like you know me at all, thief."  
He just had to be sure she wasn’t going to do anything crazy. Then he could leave. And he badly wanted to leave, before he had another damn-fool impulse to kiss her. Goodness knew what was wrong with him. Maybe he needed a herbal medicine or some prune juice.  
"Do you really have nothing better to do than stand around and follow me around? Or do you want me to kick you all out of our castle?"  
"As I have said, your Majesty, I was just about to go hunting, and maybe after that go around the woods for some patrol in case flying monkeys roam around again, I did not mean that your protection spell around the castle is ineffective but I just want to be extra-cautious." He didn’t suspect she wanted to hear any of that, but he figured he’d better give her a time frame of what his life will be like around. "All of which to say, I just want to be of your help, so let’s get back to the conversation—"  
"We’re not having a conversation."  
"We’re talking about finding a solution to defeat the witch. And an army would help—"  
"I’m not asking for help."  
"Well, okay." He reminded himself that he came from strong English stock. Which meant he is patient but he might have to kick a tree soon and hard but he could hold on to his patience until then or die trying.  
"I know it must be hard because the witch is your sister, and that destroying her gives you hope to live on, but this is not the way to do it, let’s join forces to fight her—"  
"That won’t be necessary, I don’t want anymore people involved in this. This is my fight. I don’t want an army, I don’t want your merry men, don’t want anyone’s help or advice. So get far away from me, thief!"  
She whirled around to stomp off, her long gown, almost making her  trip, but she quickly regained her composure and stomped off.

  
Robin didn’t grin—there wasn’t a damn thing funny about what shape the Queen was in. She must think he was the most obnoxious person to ever cross her path—since she’d done everything but stand on her head to make him butt out. She didn’t want help. That was obvious since the start. She didn’t want a friend either, and he should have known better. But she’d at least roused enough to snap at him, and according to Snow, that was good. He got on her nerves, and a little anger is better than suicidal thoughts.

  
When a man found a wounded deer in the road, he didn’t kill it even though he is one to hunt for deers. At least for someone like Robin of Locksley. That woman was so wounded she was over her head, sick with it, in a rage with it. And no, she wasn’t his problem, but it had been so long since since a woman had touched him—much less snagged a feeling from deep within him, and he was unwilling to walk away. At least not yet. He wanted to cure her, to help her get back on her feet, he knows she’s strong that she can carry on, and it confused him of the feelings she really do seem to stir within him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Still from the “missing year” of their lives in Enchanted Forest. This time it’s from Regina’s POV. I had hoped they’d at least had their 1st kiss back in EF, so I made it happen, so here goes :)

Robin was out there, leaning over the fence, his leg cocked forward, wearing an off-white open throated-shirt as if it were a balmy spring day… which actually Regina guessed it was. He was just…hanging there…shooting some arrows at a nearby tree, practicing his archery.

For just an instant, she felt the most curious fear, as if she should just head back, not to risk being near him again. She did not fear him as a nemesis, but rather, she thought she would “proceed with caution” with Robin. Something in those sexy, ever-blue eyes made her feel restless and edgy. In the past few weeks they seem to banter and quarrel, but there was something in his long, lazy stride, in his cautious movements, in those slow, teasing smiles of his made her stomach drop.

She wasn’t aware of him as a man.

She couldn’t be.

She certainly didn’t want him. She didn’t want anyone. All she wanted was to be with her son, to have him remember her and to love her back as much as she loved him. She had never planned to want another man as long as she lived. But damn…he did bug her.

Quickly, she shook off the ridiculous sensation. Robin Hood was no one she needed to feel cautious around. She knew that. He might have seen her at her lowliest, but she held her head high, and when rewarding him with gold tipped arrows, didn’t make him leave, she got annoyed. He was interfering and bossy, true that was his nature, what else can you expect from a man who leads a bunch of merry men to steal. But being afraid of him at any level is kind of absurd. She didn’t fear anyone, and she won’t let him see that he does bug her.

She then noticed that he was practicing his archery on one of her apple trees.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He smiled. As if she hadn’t just screamed abuse on him up one side and down the other.

“Your majesty, I was just trying to practice my skills…”

She crossed to the fence, her gaze sweeping the ground for a log big enough to bash his head with. She thought she might use magic to conjure a log but hesitated.

“With the Wicked Witch on the loose, I thought that maybe I needed to improve myself, we all know I don’t miss targets but I just want to be prepared. Anyway—“

She couldn’t find a log, Lots of twigs in the grass but nothing big enough to do any damage.

“Anyway, would you like me to teach you some archery, Your Majesty?”

“I most certainly do not—“

“But of course, you have your fireball, and that’s enough for the flying monkeys…”

“You insolent thief! Are you aware what tree are you shooting at?!”

“Well, it is an apple tree, so I guess an apple tree?”

A log was too good for him. She vaulted over to where he was, determined to give him that what-for, but she was madder than a bed of hornets and the “how” didn’t immediately seem that important. Her hurled after him, yanked at his shirt, had her palms open up in his face, and the next thing she knew, she was in his arms.

It all didn’t make a lick of sense. She was mad. She knew she was furious. And whatever emotion Robin Hood might have been feeling, he’d never let on for a blink that he felt anything sexual for her.

Yet his lips came down on hers as if they had been waiting for just a moment, her hand that was supposed to slap the taste out of his mouth was in his own hands, holding it. His arms slid around her waist as if he’d known she was going to be on a shaky ground. The sun tilted in her eyes, so bright and hot she couldn’t see. She still planned to slap him. Eventually. It was just right then… she was so stunned.

His lips were sun warmed, smooth. He dipped down for a second kiss before she’d recovered from the first. He was tall enough to make her feel surrounded, protected. She heard the yearning coo of a mourning dove. Felt the damp earthy loam beneath her boots, felt the sliver of breeze tickle the hair at her nape. She felt his heart, beating, beating, beating with her hand now on his chest.

Slower than a sigh, he lifted his head. His gaze roamed her face, his eyes now a dark blue with awareness, electric, with what they’d kindled together. She felt his fingertip on her cheek, felt the stubble of his beard on it moments ago. His voice came out rough and tender-low.

“I knew it was in there. That soft, wonderful part of you, Regina. I hate to see you hurting so bad.”

He didn’t lower his hand particularly fast, or turn around and start walking away with any speed. But still she couldn’t come up with an answer before he was already a hundred yards away from the castle. She couldn’t talk at all. She still seemed to be gulping in air and sensation both.

She realized now perfectly well that Robin had been trying to reach out a hand to her ever since he helped her break in at their castle, but she’d assumed it was just him being heroic and all. She’d never expected…kisses. She’d never expected to feel his heart thundering against hers. To see the stark shine of desire in his blue eyes, to feel his body rousing because of their closeness.

Robin had wanted her.

It seemed an astounding revelation.

She stared at him. He was lean himself, built tall and physical. His face had a full beard and his blond hair seemed to be lazily brushed up. Nothing scared Robin. He was elemental, earthy, wild himself. And he didn’t know any thief could be as honorable as he is.

He made her think of male alpha wolves—of the kind of man a woman was instinctively very, very careful around. Not for fear he’d hurt her, but for fear of being taken under a force bigger than her, an emotional force.

Regina shivered suddenly, and then abruptly scowled. Elemental force? Where on earth was this coming from? The damned man had damaged one of her beloved apple trees and somehow managed to divert her attention for a couple of seconds by kissing her senseless.

Well—the next time she saw him, there’d be no kisses and no nonsense either… but that wouldn’t do. She was simply going to ignore his existence and that was that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Robin Hood & Regina (Outlaw Queen)
> 
> Rating: M
> 
> Summary: So, OQ have had 3 kisses on Storybrooke, So I just thought its right that back in EF, they have at least more than one kiss too. Still from the missing year, and a bit of Regina/Roland :)
> 
> A/N: Not beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

When most women got kissed, Regina thought grimly, their mood perked up. At least if it had been a good kiss. And Robin’s kiss had certainly qualified as extraordinary.

As she trudged toward the lavender fields just a few kilometers outside the castle, riding a horse, she could feel every creaky, cranky muscle in her body complaining. For three days she had been working nonstop, trying to locate where Zelena must be hiding, and fending off attacks of the flying monkeys on the outskirts of the Enchanted Forest. Specifically that was the same three days since Robin kissed her.

Working herself into a state of exhaustion hadn’t made her forget about Robin—but it was doing a fabulous job of completely wearing her out. Hunting for her wicked sister is hard enough with all the flying monkeys around, but she was looking for something mind-numbing and exhausting she’d be too tired to have nightmares. She had been avoiding him for the last three days and when Robin made a move to get near her, she would get irritated, and throw insults at him, like how a thief should not be trusted, and as always Snow or Charming would interfere and save his ass, saying how they needed someone like him and his Merry Men.

When she reached the crest of the hill, the late afternoon sun was temporarily so blinding bright that it took several seconds before she realized she wasn’t alone. There was a body in the lavender field. Squinting, she realized it was a boy, hunkered down in the first row of the overgrown lavender, playing with something.

In a single blink, she knew who it was. Robin’s son. He was maybe four or five, and his cloak almost covering his small, lithe body. He had a curly, dark jet of hair, and Regina thought she must have gotten it from his mother, but the fair skin and dimples he got from Robin.

She led the horse closer, and then slowly jumped out of the saddle. She was furious again because it seems like Robin was having his child unattended, when it was dangerous to be out like this.

“Roland!” She yelled the instant she was within hearing distance. Roland then jerked upright.

“Queen ‘Gina?” he asked, a smile in his little mouth, the dimples forming.

“Good grief—what are you doing out here alone?”

“I was just playin’, see?” He answered in a lazy, childish tone, holding up the stuffed monkey in front of him.

She smiled at that, she never interacted with Roland again, after she had saved him. Roland then got closer to her.

“You tole me I should not be scared of flyin’monkeys, see, I’m not scared of ‘em” He said with a proud smile.

Regina wanted to brush that curly mop of hair of his, and she hunched down so she can talk to him closer.

“I know you’re a brave boy, but you shouldn’t be playing out here, alone.”

“I was playin’ hide an’ seek with Little John, but I saw these pretty flow’rs here…”

“They’re called lavenders, Roland. And yes they sure are pretty flowers.”

“I ‘member Papa said he wanted to pick some landers, to give to her Majstey”

“He said what?” She asked, with a small laugh. Not knowing whether to correct the boy or the idea that Robin wanted to give her flowers.

“Papa said s’long as were here in the big castle; we’re safe, because of her Majstey.”

“Your Papa said that?”

“He did!” He said with a big smile, still fiddling with the stuffed monkey.

Just then, a big voice came from a distant.

“Roland!”

She turned to see Little John and Robin running towards him.

“Where have you been, boy?” Robin shouted, with Roland running towards them.

“Papa, Little John! I was just playing, and I saw Landers, look!”

“You are not doing a great job babysitting.” She said to Little john scornfully.

It was Robin who spoke up. “Apologies Your Majesty, but Roland really did have a tendency to run off like this.”

“I’ll take him back now, Robin.” Little John said, carrying Roland with him while heading back.

“Bye, Queen ‘Gina!” Roland shouted back, waving a hand.

Regina smiled at him, waving back. Robin can’t help but smile; it was only Roland that could get her to smile like that. She did have a soft spot for children.

When Roland and Little John were already out of earshot, she snapped at him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing leaving your child alone like that?!”

He blinked. “Actually, this place is still under your protection spell, so I doubt Roland could be attacked by those flying monkeys.”

“I know that, but you shouldn’t leave him with those Merry Men of yours.”

Robin tried to bite his tongue, of course, try to be nice to her, and you could get your head bitten off. He knew better than that now—and try to answer back at her would also get his head bitten off. He tried to remain calm.

“You don’t like Little John taking care of my boy?”

“I don’t like anyone—”

“Not even Roland?”

Obviously she thought he’d accused her of being kind, and that she really did love kids. But Roland reminds her so much of Henry, and how when he was growing up, he always needed protection from his mother. It was bittersweet to be around Roland, because it was a sad reminder of Henry, but she cannot deny that he is such an adorable kid.

“Little John or Friar Tuck, and any of my Merry Men treats Roland as if he was their own son. They look after him and they would protect him at all cost.”

She rolled her eyes. “So that’s what you’re teaching to your son, run around with a band of thieves.”

“I already told you, Regina. I own up my mistakes, and I would do anything to protect my son. I did steal to give to the rich, and thinking of others first cost me my wife. I should have stopped living like that years ago. It was the realization that what I did for a living had taken my own wife’s life.” Robin frowned. He wasn’t sure why he was spilling all this stuff, but not that surprised that Regina seems to care for Roland’s well being. “Besides, we are all like a family now, we trust each other and they are loyal men.”

Regina was suddenly frowning right back at him. “It is none of my business.”

“Actually–it isn’t.”

She was already walking away from him in a flash.

“It’s not as if I care. I only started this whole conversation to tell you that you should not let your child roam around out here, at all costs.”

He walked to catch up with her too, thinking the woman was more mercurial than a summer wind.

“I know it still hurts you about your son, but you deserve to start over again, a second chance.”

Wrong thing to say. Scarlet streaked her cheeks faster than a fire.

“Whatever you saw about me that night, about the sleeping curse, you put that under a rug, understand? I am now here, still living because I found something, something worth living for, and that is, to destroy my sister!”

“I wasn’t implying anything, so please don’t be tearing any blood strips off me.” His voice dropped low. Lower than a bass tenor and quieter than midnight. A contrast to her voice which sounds like anger and fury.

“Regina, I understand anger. I’m sorry you’ve been through such hell. But I’m not here to hurt you, I wanted to be of help to you, and to see you survive this, we will all survive this.”

Robin words was assuring, and a promise of friendship, or maybe more but apparently she scared herself, having a conversation with him as if she cared. She didn’t want to care. Not about him. Which she seemed obligated to make crystal clear.

Her chin went up the notch.

“I told you, I don’t need anyone. I can take care of myself.”

“But you just keep putting people all out, when we are all here and we offer support and loyalty to you.”

Her chin shot up another defiant inch. “The Charmings are insufferable. Everybody just wants me here so they can be safe. Everyone expects me to keep them safe because I have magic. I get that. No need to be friendly, I get what I need to do, and I always keep my word.”

“How can you be so mean to yourself?”

“That is the truth.”

Hell. It was such a stupid conversation that he couldn’t think of a single reason to continue. So he grabbed her and kissed her instead.

What else could he possibly have done? She was just standing there, fists on her hips, looking like a defiant child. She wasn’t going to quit challenging him unless he did something.

This time, though she knew his kiss. She knew the taste of him. She knew the risk of him. And for damn sure, Robin knew how much trouble she was. Or he thought did.

Before he’d severed the first kiss, he was already coming back for another. His fingers disappearing into her thick, long hair, his body picking up her body heat—even through the leather bodice and silk cape gown she was wearing. Her impossibly soft skin was another aphrodisiac pull—and he didn’t need any more pulls. She was already yanking every emotional chain he had. She kissed him like the loneliest soul he knew. She kissed as if he were her first. As if she was shaky-scared and still couldn’t turn away. As if she was starved to touch and be touched, to hold and be held. As if she’d die if he let her go.

One kiss seeped into another, whispered into another, danced into another. His fingers trailed down, kneading her shoulders, then molding down her back. He pulls her closer, to smell the sweet scent of her skin, and feel the frantic beat of her heart. He kissed her soft, silken lips. Heard the murmur of a groan deep inside her throat when he took her tongue. Her responsiveness caused his impulse to jack-hammer. She kissed back like a summer storm, all heat and lightning and surprise. How could she have been hiding such explosive passion? He thought: it wasn’t that she wanted him. It was that she’d been alone so long. He thought: it couldn’t have been that he mattered to her, because half the time she was furious with him. In his head, he understood—really understood—that this wasn’t likely about him. But then, just for that minute, he sucked in those hot, wet kisses of hers. Inhaled the lush feeling of her busy hands invoked. Smelled her skin which was a mix of vanilla and honey, inhaled the earthy sounds of longing she made. At least until she nipped his neck.

And then his eyes bolted open, and he lifted his head with a little shock—and humor. “You bit me, Your Majesty,” he murmured.

“What can I say, I missed lunch.”

“But you.You actually bit me.”

“You’re telling me a woman’s never taken a nip of you, Thief? What, have you been with all sissies?”

“Are you actually flirting with me? From the minute you arrived back here, you’ve given me grief nonstop.”

“It wasn’t personal. I’ve given everyone grief. Temporarily though, all I can think about is having you for dinner.”

Nobody had given him a sudden ticket to this. Reality was all around him. The silky sunlight, now low and nearing sunset. The sound of birdsong. The smell of lavender all around, and verdant earth and the neigh of the horse nearby. Yet all he could see was her long, silky hair, made up on the side of her shoulder, the ache in her eyes, her beautiful mouth swollen from his kisses. Her face was still, her gaze searching his just urgently as his searched hers.

“What’s going on here?” he asked gently.

“Maybe I’m trying to scare you away.”

“And you think I’ll be scared off?”

Silence. Then she touched his bearded cheek with her fingertip. “Yes, I do. I don’t know why you keep kissing me. I don’t know why you keep trying to help me. I am a walking catastrophe. I can't fit in your life, in your son’s life. I’m not ready for any kind of relationship. I’m not ready much of anything. All I want is to defeat my sister and get it over with.”

“Yes. So?”

A whisper of grin, the first natural one he’d seen on her lips. “Don’t get sassy with me. I am serious. If you come to on to me, you could get what you’re asking for. Trouble. So think through, think real good before you kiss me again. Understand?”

Slowly, she pulled completely free from his arms, then turned around, climbed her horse and rode off.

He left him in the lavender fields, and he stood there for a good five minutes, feeling dazed as if someone had smacked him upside the head—or upside the heart. God knew what he was going to do about her. Right then, for sure, he didn’t have a clue.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, if you're still reading this, I'm sorry I updated just now. I had a lot of things going on at my previous work, and been having OQ meltdowns lately. But alas, I do really will try to update this :) Thank you for reading! What I can promise now is a treat for the next chapter so stay tuned :D
> 
> A/N: Not beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

Kalli was still neighing and tossing his head up into a frenzy. "Shut up, you witless dolt. There's no one here but me."  
  
The black stallion, which she already named Kalli, seemed to be just trained for only months. Whenever she rides him, she always seemed to be riding in a wild rodeo. Charming suggested for her to get another steed, but she was adamant to do so. She wanted to gain the trust of the animal and maybe, train him to be a much better steed.  
  
The horse, naturally hated the reigns. "I know. That you hated the reigns, it constricts you. And I know that feeling, but I can't trust you because you might just run away, and I don't want any other horse. I'm willing to take you for a walk to run off that energy, but I can't risk your running off. Believe me, I really understand you and your bad temper. But right now, you only have two choices--a walk in the reigns or being stuck in the stables all night."  
  
It was hard enough to clip on the reigns and put the saddle when the stallion wasn't being rambunctious and ornery. But tonight it was dark, with no moon above the clouds. Finally she managed, but right before she could take a step, the stallion drew its long neck against the side of her cheek.  
  
"I don't love you, so don't be thinking I care," Regina scolded, but Kalli seemed unimpressed with this threat as all her others. Once she unlatched the gate of the stable, he bounded beside her, ears perked high and alert, walking to her exact pace.  
The long night walks had become a pattern. She'd been sleeping better eversince they arrived back in their castle--she patrolled the nearby woods in the day, ride with Kalli guaranteed she'd fall asleep. But sometimes the nightmares would still plague her, memories of Henry, his heart being snatched by Pan, would consume her, memories of him leaving Storybrooke and leaving her alone, as she always had, left her most of the times crying at night, and then walking at night seemed to help. Stumbling with her wicked sister might be possible, so she put up an extra mile of protection spell even outside the castle walls, to the field which leads to the forest.  
Since no one was around, she talked to the horse. It seemed a little saner than talking to herself. And it didn't seem to matter what she said or how mean she said it. Kalli seemed to listen. In fact, as much as he seemed to be wild whenever he rode him, the damn stallion seemed to crave the sound of her voice--not that she did it for his sake.  
  
Tonight, though, she set up a fast hiking pace and didn't talk at all. Kalli, tuned to her channel, hiked and whinnied alongside her. The brisk walk helped Regina work up a fume. The nerve of that man! Just a earlier before he suggested she should let him come alongside her during patrols, because she always went alone during her patrols in the woods, while the others including him, and his Merry Men alongside Charming and some of the dwarves. She reminded him that she always did a one woman job. He implied she is not a very good people person, and that she could not handle it if swarms of flying monkeys would attack. She hated the fact that she even allowed him to break the castle in the first place, she admired that he was honorable, but she thought rewarding him with the golden arrows would make him leave, but he didn't, and she hated the fact that they already kissed, not once but twice, and she had gave in and she did everything to avoid him especially after that second kiss, but it was hard, especially because he keeps wanting to get past through her walls.  
  
True, Robin as he said, lost a loved one too, but he hadn't been through what she had. For Gods sake. He had seen her at her most vulnerable, she opened up to him, not a lot but back then she thought he could trust him. But now, she regretted all of it. It was just fortunate that he had not told anyone--especially to Snow and her plan with the sleeping curse. That she is grateful of. But today he implied that she couldn't handle it when the flying monkeys would attack, and brought up the day when she got attacked by the flying monkey, and she was defenseless. No, she wasn't hurt, she felt aggravated, and insulted.  
  
Most of the people had been nice to her ever since they got back in Storybrooke from Neverland, and now in the Enchanted Forest. Everyone had seemed to appreciate her helping now and the unbearable thing she is going through. Everyone. She'd shared some of the personal bit with Robin, and he'd made out like she was helpless, when she had been really trying to be tough and brave. She then realized they were almost at the edge of the grass fields and turned back. She patted Kalli's hair and then climbed up to ride on the saddle.  
"Come on boy, hope you got your legs stretched out now, its time for bed." She said as they rode back to the castle.  
  
*******  
  
When she finally settled the stallion at the stables, she walked up to the castle and onto her bedchamber, she was walking deep in thought along the dim hallway when she glanced up and saw Robin standing on the door. She felt a shiver seep into her pulse, it was caused from something far different from fear. Although her first thought was just: Good, now she'd have the chance to punch his lights out. She was almost a feet from him, her gaze glued on Robin, and wouldn't let go. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Waiting for you."  
  
"Obviously. I meant why."  
  
"Because I believed what you said. You can take care of yourself, that you are fine. And I just came to the thought that you were sick and tired of people treating you as if you were going to break."  
  
"I am," she admitted. "Tired of bits of people tiptoeing around me. Snow always on my back, Charming always looking out for me,  the others as if trying to watch my every move, and you treating me like fluff."  
  
"Well you can take it to the bank, Your Majesty. I won't be treating you like fluff anymore. I think you can take anything I can dish out."  
  
"You're damn right I can." she assured him.  
  
"Good," he murmured, and reached for her.  
  
She never saw the kiss coming. Never had a clue that was where he was leading. She felt a long slow whoosh inside her when his mouth came down on her, in a kiss that started hard and deep and just kept coming.  
His tongue was inside her mouth before she'd scrabbled a spare ounce of oxygen. She wasn't even aware that he had opened the door to her bed chamber and that they were already inside, the door slammed shut behind them; and that was the last instant his hands were anywhere but on her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, this is what was promised, sexy!times ahead :D Forgive me for this, I tried my best :")
> 
> A/N: Not beta’d, so all mistakes are mine

Regina's bed chamber was devil-black for an instant...but not really. Moonlight silvered through the naked windows. The light was perfect for kisses so naked they cut right past courtesies, and politeness and pretenses.

Regina scrambled to make sense of a world that had become a storm of sensation, electric thunder, instant lightning. His tongue was making love with her tongue. His mouth, wet and hot, was molding hers. His hands, palms splayed, slid down her sides, inch by inch in a claim of ownership. She heard what his hands were saying as if they could talk: _I own you. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year, but right now, that body of yours is mine._

  
Her first sip of wine had never made her this high, this dizzy. She simply didn't do this.

  
She did all of this. But all the sensations are new.

  
She and Graham did nice sex, but all seemed just a routine. She doesn't even want to think back to the times she made her wifely duties to her dead King Husband, nor of the times she did with all the others.

  
This wasn't comfortable, she doesn't feel in control. She have had her share of men, but all of them, she was always in control. She doesn't feel in control now. This was scary and wild. This was turning on a faucet of full force. "Robin--"  
"I'm sorry, I lost control."  
"That's not what I was going to say."  
"If you want to say no, then say it. Anything else, we can talk about later."

She opened her mouth, planning to say no. Planning to insist he slow down until she found her mind again--the one he was turning into shambles from the inside out. But instead of saying no, for a completely unknown reason, she lifted up a tiptoe, and wrapped her arms around his neck.  
If she'd been looking for trouble, she found it--faster than a sting, hotter than a fire. In flashes, she saw the moonlight on his harsh face, his soft, blue eyes. She peeled his clothes over his, first the coat, and then the white shirt over it. Maybe for a tornado they could have stopped. Maybe.

He swore, twice, just taking off the layers of his clothing was hard work. Getting them into her bed was also an obstacle. Something connected with his shin, another with his foot. Moonlight didn't extend to the shadows and doorways...but his kisses did. His touch did.

  
Robin seemed to know all the private places she'd been hiding in the dark.

  
Somewhere near the foot of the bed, he peeled her vest, and the shirt underneath, then slowly, he undid the straps of her corset, his mouth laving, biting, then baring her breasts for his view. He looked and kept looking, even as he was slowly zipping down her riding pants, and pushing them off her, and then her undergarment. There was naked and then there was naked. She'd been naked with the others before, but somehow she'd never felt this completely exposed. She felt physically naked, but she also seemed to feel her soul is also bare in front of him.

  
She kept telling herself that she was afraid, not ready, that she wanted to stop. But his hands were in her hair, and those kisses kept coming. She wasn't protesting. She was claiming all the kisses he offered, taking everything he gave, demanding more, inviting more. When he lowered her to the bed, the sheets felt moon-chilled, where her skin was unberably hot. Fevered.  She hadn't felt anything but anger and loneliness in so long. She couldn't explain what was happening. Morality didn't seem to matter. This couldn't be love...but it seemed to be about trusting Robin. Or his forcing to trust him, because he gave and gave and gave. Liquid kisses. Golden kisses. Intimate kisses that tracked her from her ankle to the inside of her thigh to the heart of her.

Need spiraled through her body, exploded through her senses, a fierce, urgent hunger that had nothing to do with lust--and yet everything to do with it. Desire coiled in her tighter than a spring, ready to let loose when he suddenly laughed, a low sound of masculine delight...and then he blew a raspberry  in her navel to make her laugh too. Laughter and sex, who'd have thought they went together? But when he nuzzled her breasts, her breath started coming in short, harsh gasps. As sweet as the laughter had been, suddenly she was in a desperate hurry for him, inside her, now.

She'd been torn apart for months. Even for years now. Alone for so long. She didn't know how to put her life together after losing Henry. Wasn't sure if she even have a life that could be mended anymore.

But right then, it was as if Robin was taking her to some other place...a place where nothing existed but this urgent excitement. The rush of sensation. His wild mouth, his wicked eyes. His misbehaving hands, coaxing her to do things she didn't do, think things she didn't think, to behave like a woman, different than Regina, than a Queen. She was his lover. His abandoned, earthy lover at the moment, no one else. Nothing else.

He pulled her beneath him, rising up, giving her a breath's space--but she saw the glaze of desire in his eyes, saw the sheen of control in his face. She met his first thrust with her legs tight around him, then raised them higher and tighter yet, as if she could take him in as deep as her soul. He whispered something about how sweet she was, how wet, how tight, just for him, but he was already building a rhythm, pumping a beat, taking her on a long, fast ride.

She felt her spine arching, felt her pulse rushing and gathering speed, heard the call from her throat with his name on it. What she'd been so sure was lust but wasn't lust at all, but somehow it feels eerily like magic, not her dark magic, but the other magic. She felt protected in the circle of his arms, in his heat, in his warmth. He was stronger than she was and until those moments, that instant, she knew she was always strong. Or how badly she'd needed to let go, for a few minutes, to just be...weak. To be herself. To not hold up those steel emotional walls just for a little while.

And then release came to her like a sweet rush of rain, cleansing, healing, freeing. One burst of pleasure followed another, his own release, she heard her name being whispered in her ear, his breath hot, until she lay in his arms, breathless, whipped.

He scooped her up and just held her. She heard his thundering heartbeat under her ear, felt his hand stroking down her shoulder and spine. She felt she belongs right with him, and that this is a familiar zone.

Gradually she became aware that clouds had chased across the moon. The room was darker, a night chill sneaking in. She'd felt the helpless smile on her file, yet now she felt that smile dying as her eyes opened.

There was no sudden sting of reality. The feeling of being cradled against his heavy, brawny chest was wonderful, the sensation being sexually and emotionally sated was a call of life and hope she hadn't felt in years... for maybe if ever in her life. Yet when she suddenly lifted her head, she saw his eyes in the darkness, a deep blue, watching, waiting, as if he'd been half-tense in  anticipation of her coming wake again.

"Thank you," she whispered.

  
"Don't steal my lines, Your Majesty. And I can't talk quite yet. I don't know what just happened, but if feels like this is what the universe is telling me to do."

  
A small grin. "Did we wear you out?"

  
"We? You did it all. I have heard the powerful wiles of the beauty and mystique of the Queen, the tales of her seduction and enchantment, but seeing it, and feeling it was entirely a different story..." Still his hand stroked, stroked, as if he were a gentling a kitten who was braced to flee.

"I knew we'd be good, Regina. But I never thought it'd be like this."

  
"Neither did I. Never in my life." But his warmth, his words of praise and tenderness, aroused an uneasy thread in her pulse.

"I haven't felt alive in months. I didn't know I could feel...anything. Much less anything like this."

  
"There is no way you could have healed past. You had a terrible hurt, and I don't even know all you have dealt with in the past."

  
Another uneasy thread bucked in her pulse. She touched his jaw, his beard sending shivers in her fingers, and pushed back an unruly shock of hair from his brow. Whatever this had been about, she didn't regret it. It felt so wrong but so right at the same time. She couldn't. He'd made her feel alive the way she never had, never thought she could again...with a man.

But everything wasn't about her. Robin had a son--and he could take any woman in his life, but why her. Regina couldn't imagine a woman less suited to be a trustworthy role for his son--or even be good for him. She barely knew what she was doing one day to the next.

"What are we going to call this?" she asked softly.

"How about if we don't call it anything. I don't need labels. I never lived by them."

She swallowed. "But I don't want to hurt you. We may have hurt each other even before this, all the verbal sparring--"

"I'm a big boy."

"I noticed that."

He tapped the tip of her nose. "That wasn't what I meant."

"Oh well, what I meant was...I don't know where we go from here."

"We go wherever you want. Whatever feels natural."

A pile of horse hockey if ever she'd heard one. Regina knew about vulnerability. Sometimes she felt so fragile she knew she could shatter if the wind blew from the wrong direction, she is strong but deep inside she is weak especially when she allows feelings. And Robin looked strong and mighty, because he was. But he hadn't been a few minutes ago, in her arms. He'd needed her, no different than she'd needed him.

  
"I'm okay with doing what feels natural," she said softly. "as long as neither of us build unreasonable expectations."

He stilled. His eyes met hers, unbending even in the darkness. "What are you worried about? Tell me."

She was worried about needing him too much. About hurting someone who'd been impossibly good to her. About failing a man who deserved someone who would never fail him. Everything she loves, gets destroyed, or lost to her forever.

"I don't know how to do relationships very well... anger and revenge was something I had held onto for too long. I don't know how to love very well, if it is what you want--"

"I'm not asking you of anything, I see you hopefully as you see me, a second chance--" he said softly, then he pulled her in his arms for a second time. The first kiss ensured her she was cut off from saying anything more. And then he made love to her again, ensuring she didn't have the energy for anything but him--and them. She felt asleep in his arms, and she had never slept with a man before, she slept separately from the King, never let Graham stay for the night, and all the others, she dismissed them once she's done with them The only other man she did sleep with, but nothing happened was with Daniel, and that was all too long ago, but there she was as if sleeping with Robin was the most natural thing. Everything about tonight was new to her, yet it feels as if she felt home.

  
She woke once in the night, on the tip of a nightmare, but she found herself soothed, tears kissed dry by kisses of Robin, and smoothed in his arms, and the bad dream just seemed to disappear, and she slept a fitful sleep she never had in months.

  
The next time she opened her eyes, the sun was almost on the horizon, and he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you're still reading this, well, I'm sorry it took forever for another update. But then here it is, and a bit of sexy!time with a bit of angst maybe? :)
> 
> A/N: Not beta’d, so all mistakes are mine
> 
> Tumblr Link:http://badskin.tumblr.com/tagged/outlaw-queen-ff

For three days in a row, the Charming family and the dwarves had been singing praises about Robin Hood and that he was a great help to them, teaching other sword skills and a bit of archery along with his other Merry Men, as Charming agreed everyone should know self defense. This morning, he was up as per usual, and the instant he heard birds chirping outside, he went down to the castle kitchen hoping to have some morning tea and pasted on a stupid, happy smile. It was no surprise that his best friend, Little John was already on the kitchen, beating eggs.

  
"Gonna be a hot day, they say," Little John claimed as he ambled a look towards his, as he propped himself on a chair.

"Pretty rare to have this kind of weather, aren't we already in the month of May?"

  
"Uh-huh." was all Little John managed to say.

"Uh-huh." he deliberately repeated with more boisterous enthusiasm.

Little John squinted at him in surprise, then poured a tea in a mug and settled across the table. When Robin offered no further conversation, Little John ventured.

  
"You get some sleep last night? Seems like I heard you walking about the hallway pacing around for three nights in a row, figured you weren't well."

  
"Couldn't be better," Robin said heartily. "How're doing this morning, Little John?"

  
That shocked Little John into complete silence. Robin never asked about his state of health--not because he didn't care about his best friend--but because Little John answered in minute every detail about every little ache and pain. Little John mostly like being coddled, as big a man he is, where Robin didn't believe it was good for him. This morning though, his best friend didn't answer his health question, only watched Robin serve him some eggs and more tea.

  
"You're waiting on me," he said in a disbelieving tone.

  
"Just thought we should all start the day with a good breakfast."

"I'm not complaining," Little John said hastily and taking advantage of their leader being pleasant.

  
They heard noises outside and some of the Merry Men are already waking up. Eggs got shoveled onto plates, and Little John got up and cooked some more. Sun poured into the east windows.

  
When Robin looked out, though, he didn't see the sun lit grass or the dewy glisten in the Apple tree towards the castle garden. He saw her. His mind's view whispered back three nights ago. He saw Regina's face by moonlight, the magic in her eyes, her silky white naked skin. The way she'd come alive for him. Apart for him. Gone wild for him, with him.  
For damn sure, he hadn't been hurt that she'd ended the night with honesty. Her confession that she was not ready into anything. She'd never given him a reason to expect anything else. A man would have to be an idiot to not realize that tragedy was still haunting her. Regina was nothing like her now dead wife, Marian. When Regina loved, she loved. Obviously, she'd never such a hard time over her past demons and maybe past loves.

  
Just then Friar Tuck was tugging a sleepy Roland behind. Little John babbled on about archery training for today. Roland was mumbling about wanting to ride a horse.

"I'm not going to ask you to let me ride a horsey, Papa..."

"It's okay," he said, petting his son's curly mop of head.

"You mean, I can ride in a horsey, Papa?" Roland asked his brown eyes, going wide in excitement. Friar Tuck was giving him a puzzled look but he was nowhere there with them.

He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the wooden table, looking out. He'd never made love with her because he expected any kind of return. The chemistry was so explosive, so yes, there was plenty of selfishness on his part. He wasn't trying to claim that he'd made love for her sake. But that really wasn't the whole picture. He hated seeing her shut herself off from life. He also didn't want getting her feet wet with a man who'd hurt her--something he knew he'd never do. He wanted to be the one who helped her heal, to kiss her wounds away and to accept her scars. What was wrong with that?  
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

  
Making love hadn't hurt her. Hadn't hurt him. Her admitting she was not ready for any kind of relationship was an honest, honorable thing to tell him.

He was happy she had.

Very happy.

Some of the dwarves were already gathering outside, Granny and Red just came from picking fruits and vegetables, and they were chatting to each other. Little John ushered Roland for a morning playtime and some of the Merry Men already was getting out from the kitchen too.

  
"I think Roland broke his wooden horse toy. Didn't want to tell you, but from the looks of the situation, I believe it found its way into the bathtub at the central bathroom chambers."

  
"Sure," Robin said.

Friar Tuck brought the breakfast dishes to the sink. That was the closest he ever came to doing dishes directly.

"I can't believe you agreed to let the boy ride a horse. Ask me, its proof you've completely lost your mind. But if you're up with that, I might as well ride with him too. Is that what you meant?"

"Sure."

"Maybe I'll take him out for a trip in the forest too."

"Okay."

"Are you going to be going with us for a simian watch this afternoon? What will you be doing to day, maybe hunt for deers?"  
Robin shook himself awake, stirred from the window.

"I'll be working the stables this morning. And yes, go on a round watch with the Prince."

"Ah, yes. I heard Her Majesty is coming today." Robin pivoted around and looked at him in surprise. Friar Tuck almost choked on a guffaw.

"What's so funny?"

"I just think its pretty amazing. I could tell you the sun turned blue, and you'd never hear the conversation, but if I mention anything related to the Queen, you're all ears."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Just because I've gotten old doesn't mean I've lost all memory of what a young buck feels like. The last three days was the first time you were gone all alone at night since your wife was gone. We were supposed to be patrolling the grounds but you didn't show up. I just did not know who you were with, but the past days all you had been giving out was do-ey eyes towards her way."

Robin opened his mouth to deny his assumption--off the cuff, he didn't have a clear-cut lie on mind, only the intention to come through with a good one. He decided to shut his mouth instead and left the Friar with a smirk on his face.

 

* * *

 

Clouds were puffing across the morning sky like baby steam engines. She could smell the lazy spring wind, the dirt and grass. The Merry Men--Robin's men--were gathered in the other side of the castle grounds, their laughter and chatter competing with the sound of the horses neighing on the other side where Friar Tuck was riding with Roland and the little boy shouting with glee. The whole field smelled lushly rich and earthy. Her gaze wandered to Robin who was all alone beside her apple tree, and then she couldn't seem to let go. This morning he was wearing only his white tunic, his bow and quiver draped around his left shoulder, brown velour pants and boots. His hair being kicked by the breeze. She could see the creases he'd gotten from the past summer suns, the frown lines from other life experiences, the laugh lines bracketing his mouth.

  
She remembered that mouth...remembered it wooing hers, teasing hers, intimately taking hers. She remembered the artwork of hair on his chest, the color more dark golden than blond, more lustrous than the hair on his head. She remembered his muscled shoulders, and tummy, those long legs, and his strong, archer hands. She had been trying to avoid him the past three days, he had been trying to reach her for the past three days. Now she's caught.

  
"Your majesty," he called out to her, walking towards her, he seemed to saw her from her corner of an archway from where she was staring out at him, he was walking towards her. She knew what he had wanted to talk about. She knows from the look of his deep, blue eyes, almost pleading now for her not to run away.

  
She remembered those hands teasing and rubbing against her in the night, how his calloused fingers made her shiver, remembered feeling hunger and a fury of passion and how erotically and ardently he'd taken her in. And suddenly fear welled in her throat so thick she could barely swallow. He was already inches from her.

She blurted out, "I don't think I could really love someone again."

"Who asked you to love me?"

  
"You didn't ask. But I'm afraid of hurting you. So its best we keep distance from each other from now on."

"I'll be damned. For some reason, do you think you're talking to a boy? Because I'm a grown man, and it isn't up to you whether I get hurt or not. Its up to me. I can handle my own life."  
She tried again, struggling to understand the welling fear inside her, to be honest with him.

"It's easy for people to tell me, I could be happy again, I could find happiness. I'd be thrilled to have a happy ending. But ever since... and my son, he was my happiness, its as if this door is now locked and bolted inside me. I can't imagine loving anyone else again. Its not that I don't want to. It's that I think I could not survive losing anyone else again, volunteering for that kind of hurt, that kind of risk. I don't really think I have that kind of love inside me. Not anymore."

  
Robin cocked a leg forward.

"Did you think someone was asking for your love?"

  
Her eyes searched his. Actually she'd thought just that. That he needed love, that he deserved it, because he said just as before, everybody deserves a second chance. He deserved it, possibly more than any man she'd ever met. That he'd needed something from her, no different than she needed something from him. But now she sounded so aggravated and huffy that she wasn't sure.

  
"I just...wanted us both to be clear about what was going on."

  
"Damn good sex is what went on, Regina, the best one I can remember. Forgive me to be prude about the word, but we made love and the best one I can remember. Chemistry was over the top. If you feel differently or are trying to tell me that you regret it--"

  
"I don't regret it."

  
"If you want something more from me..."

  
Sheesh. She could feel the bristles climbing up her spine at the tone of his voice.  
"I don't want a damn thing, you block headed thief! And there's nothing wrong with 'just sex' either! Everything doesn't have to end up in a complicated, heavy relationship, for heaven's sake!"

  
"So, what's the problem?"

  
"There's no problem, and you keep that in mind!"

  
Before he could even try saying anything else, she whipped around and stormed off.

  
Try to be nice to the damn man, and where did it get her? He didn't want to be cared about, well fine.

  
She didn't want him to care about her, either.

She walked so fast that she got a stitch in her side--except that somehow that stitch seemed to locate right over her dark

heart, and ached worse than a bee sting, hurt more like its being pulled out of her chest.  
  


* * *

 

The only reason Regina went to dinner was because she knew Snow would raise hell if she didn't. Still she went to the trouble of getting all regal-ed hoping some face paint would hide her real mood from her 'stepdaughter'.

As she crossed the yard towards the dining hall, which was from the west side of the castle, her heart felt heavier than mud. Man. She thought she' shaken the worst of the dark funks in the past couple of weeks but the dragon had come back to bite her in the butt since arguing with Robin this morning. She had been trying to avoid him,but to no avail.

It seemed as if every direction she turned, she was doing something wrong. Damn it. She feels like a kid on a camp out. Snow can't seem to stop breathing down her neck every second of the day and now the two idiots just can't stop hovering around her. She'd also gotten herself involved with a widower, with a little boy, sure he is a thief, but damn him for being so honorable. And if she didn't get her head on straighter, she risked hurting him too. And she wanted and needed to defeat her half-sister for trying to kill her.

"Uh-oh," Snow said the minute she walked in the door. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I'm totally fine. Where's the others?"

"They left already, I was waiting for you, knew you'd still come for dinner."

But Snow had always been like an annoying younger sister to her. Once Snow got in her head, there was a problem, the fussing never let up. No matter what she said, Snow always tries to be a pep-up channel.

"Regina, its okay to be happy again. The hurt and pain never goes away, I always think about Emma, never a day goes by, but you just can't live like this, like its a crippling disability for you to enjoy life again."

"Easy for you to say, you still got your charming."

"I know, its unfair of me to say that but I still believe you can be happy again."

"Snow, you don't have to be so nice to me. I can deal with people being mean to me, I know I was vile."

"You were vile, and evil. But I knew that you were not like that ever since. And I put aside all these foods for you!"

Snow laid out a feast. Lentil-rice patties. Some kind of fish and spinach sauce. Lavender-buttered turnips and a lemon-lavender loaf. Peachy sweet potatoes.

"And I made you a tonic for those headaches you get, I know you do."

"Thank you."

"No, thank Granny. Storybrooke makes me miss all the perks we have in the modern world, but she cooks the way she cooks at the diner, so the missing somewhat lessens."

"The sweet potatoes are especially important. They have a natural estrogen. And the spinach and lentils--you have to build up some iron, some strength--so I want you to have double servings."

By the time her dinner was over, Regina was full enough she couldn't chew any longer. Not only the food was superb, but Snow has a whole bubbly program of ideas- like wanting to give her yoga lessons and suggests she should have warm baths with lavender bath salts. The instant the food was gone, she almost fled with Snow and she thanked the heavens Charming arrived to get Snow.

She walked along the yard towards the other side of the castle but decided she should have a night walk instead cos she still felt full and so she does. The night breeze soothing her nerves, and making her forget about her worries. Sure, the castle reminded her how much she felt trapped in it, but now, she can look at it and forget the pain of being trapped at it, and instead thought of the times she and Henry had been happy back in Storybrooke. Being in the Enchanted Forest just gives her painful and sad memories, and also being in the castle alone. But she's fighting, everyday and trying to live, she should, if she really want to defeat her half-sister. She then decided to go to the library, and to maybe read so by the time after she can just be sleeping soundly. She went through magical books, hoping to read about healing magic, because she needed to learn more about the subject, but when she felt her head bob already, she glanced at the grand wall clock and it says it almost half before midnight.

She then walked back towards her bed chambers, washed her face, peeled off her gown, and pulled out all the pins and let her hair flow freely in her shoulders, and with only a nightgown on, she simply threw herself into the bed. There was no doubt in her mind, she'll sleep like the dead.

Or that was the plan.

It didn't seem to quite work out that way.

The dream started with memory flashes from her wedding with King Leopold. Her mother, Cora was fluffing her hair, fixing her dress, young Snow hovering around her, her mother, Cora looking at her with serious but proud eyes. It was Cora who's said "You're the most beautiful bride, I have ever seen, you will be the Queen of this land, everyone will kneel before you, I can never be more proud of you, my darling."

And then her father was suddenly in the dream, Henry Sr. with his far seeing eyes, and the pipe he sneaked from his wife. To her father, she'd never been able to do anything wrong, was always right in his eyes, he wrapped her in a burly hug and kissed the top of her head. "You will be happy, my dear darling, Regina, and I'm sorry if this is not what you want and that I can't do anything about it, but I will always be by your side, I will never leave your side."

She kept tossing and turning in her dream, because she wanted her father so badly. She wanted Daniel. Just once, she wanted to be young again, a girl, safe in her daddy's arms, with Daniel beaming by her side. Daniel, the stable boy she fell in love with, the boy who taught her that true love is magic, with his brown locks and blue eyes, who smelled like hay and earth but it was the best scent of all the realms, Daniel, with his loving nature, and her daddy who'd let her dance in the rain who'd tromp in the woods with her, rain or shine, then Henry was suddenly there- "You're not a villain, You're my mom." he said. "I should have never went to Boston," he said, with his brown eyes and brown hair, he said she loves his Mom. "I should have never went to Boston, should have never went to Boston..."

The dream turned much dark and so fast. She and Daniel was in the stables, ready to run away from the world, her mother appearing there and pulling out his heart from his chest, he was dead before she can even go to his arms, she cradled him and kissed him hoping she could revive him, but his heart was not in his chest, so he is dead to her, to the world. And the wedding, her wedding with the King Leopold turned to became a wild thunderstorm, and the beautiful white dress somehow turned into a devil-black cloud that choked her, pressing tight, smothering her. Suddenly there was an explosion of pain, she heard Daniel's helpless cry as her mother pressed her hand deep in his chest and pulled out his heart. She managed to be a Queen, but deep inside she was dead, her life was over, she can never love again, nobody could love her. And then she felt cold, and it smelled like canned fish and saltwater, she was on a metal bed, and the pain was unbearable, the pain almost killing her, the sickening laugh of Owen, she could still see how his eyes filled with blood lust as he tortured her, as repulsing electricity soared from her head all over her body, and that maybe, maybe she deserves this pain, and that she should just die in that moment.

"No, no, no. Stop that. You're not alone."

Even though it was a dream, she recognized Robin faster than a snap and thought, _Thank God, thank God_. Like a miracle, he was just suddenly there right when she needed him. Like magic, she could rope her arms around him and be held, as fiercely as she wanted, as strongly as she needed. "I'm tired of having all these damned nightmares," she said.

"Well you're not going to have it anymore. I'm right here. We're going to chase it all away."

A swoosh of kiss made her head fall back into the pillows. That kiss... seemed so real. She could taste Robin, smell his night-cool skin, feel the cotton of his tunic shirt, the weight of him in the bed next to her. Somewhere, the open balcony seemed to let in the drift of cool air- real air.

It was amazing, how real dreams were. Even better, though she was knowing that she could do things, say things, in a dream that she obviously could never do in real life.

"I'm afraid..."

"Of course, you've been afraid."

"And I just can't seem to stop feeling guilty. That he died and I didn't. That he died for loving me, and that my son is now gone, and all my happiness were all gone, all over again. Just when I started to know how is it to be loved."

"Were not going to talk about him, I assume your beloved, or your beloved son," Robin kissed her again.

Naturally, she'd had erotic dreams before- who hadn't? But nothing like this. There was another mysterious dream kiss, then another- each hotter than passion, wetter than a river, kisses that flowed and waved and ebbed all around her. His tunic shirt disappeared fast as she can poof, just like her magic. She heard some vague shuffling sounds- like his boots dropping- then felt the whoosh of cold night air when the sheets were skimmed off her bare body.

For an instant, she was disorientingly aware that maybe this wasn't a dream, because she really was cold. But then, so swiftly- so easily, she wasn't. Robin's hard, strong body covered hers, wrapped her up in his strong limbs and warm torso. He showered her with more kisses- kisses like presents, each wrapped differently, each packaged like a surprise. Some were pretty and tender, some soft and bright, some so erotic and exotic they took her breath away.

Some skimmed down her body with his tongue, taking in everything, breast, tummy, navel, thigh, one lick at a time. Beard and stubble skimmed her tender skin, inflamed her senses. He kept whispering, whispering.

"Forget everything, Regina. Just think about this. Just be. Let me love you."

Something was suspicious.

Mighty suspicious.

Still she was almost positive the only thing intruding on this extraordinary dream was her conscience. It was terribly disturbing to realize she'd never felt this way, even with Daniel. This wicked. This thrilled. As if she could soar, just from the lush sensations of wanting and being wanted, loving and being loved.

Damn it, she'd loved Daniel, with everything she had, with everything she was. And was tired to bits of living with that conscience hounding, hounding, hounding her all the time... and tonight she didn't care what was suspicious or not. Tomorrow she'd try harder to be mean and ornery again, to push people away, to protect herself. But tonight...

Tonight she desperately wanted this dream, she wanted...

Robin.

No one and nothing but him. The lush, wicked sensations taking over, taken under. His mouth, teasing hers, taking hers. His hands, moving her to madness, coaxing her want, to need, to hunger, to feel, to sense, to ouch back, to feel alive.

In the velvet shadows, he climbed over her. She felt his thighs, he felt it, tight and hard, when he coaxed, her legs around his waits. He tested her for readiness, found her hot, and wet and impatiently more than ready for him, before he plunged in, taking her, or maybe taking him by then- who could possibly tell the difference? They were part of each other, inseparable. Each strained for the next height, climbing together, both furiously wanting by then, not having fun, not anymore. Joy took intense concentration, intense giving.

"Robin, Robin..." She wasn't sure if she said his name aloud. It seemed as if her heart called him, wooing him, wanting him.

And then they both tipped off the sky, spilled into the universe of each other. One sweet, fierce release followed the next, her body shivering, she doesn't know whose shivering more, was it her or him, then she sank into the pillows, into his arms, still panting too hard, too spent to talk...but not so tired that she lost the energy to hold and be held. She smiled at him in the darkness, tenderly touched his lips with her finger.

"This was too good to be true," she whispered. She didn't finish the next words to say, feels this dream is the best one she had ever had. It seemed as if everything inside her was a tender beginning, created by Robin, possible because of him. She smiled again, nuzzling her lips into his neck, she felt him kiss the top of her forehead, and then fell asleep like a brick.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So was it a dream? :) 
> 
> A/N: Not beta’d, so all mistakes are mine
> 
> Tumblr Link:http://badskin.tumblr.com/tagged/outlaw-queen-ff

The next thing she knew sunlight was streaming through the windows. She felt the warmth of her skin, the sensation of well-being and sleepy security, and lazily opened her eyes. She lazily sat at the edge of her bed, struggling to get her emotional bearings. Last night simply had to have been a dream. Really, there wasn’t even a question in her mind about that. In real life, she’d never have done those things, felt those things. It was unfair to make herself feel guilty for a dream. It was just disconcerting because everything about their lovemaking seemed so exquisitely real. The sex was part of that, but the invasive memories that shook her far more were her feelings for Robin, the feelings he’d shown her, how they were together, all the love and tenderness and sensitive caring he’d given her so freely. Obviously, it had been a fantasy. A superb fantasy, but nothing she had to worry was conceivably true…

From the corner of her eyes, she spotted the sock on the floor. It wasn’t remotely unusual to see socks on the floor, of course.

But she does not wear socks, not in any realm.

She wore stockings. This wasn’t hers, obviously. Only one person she knew left it behind - and he was no fantasy.

Suddenly there was no more pretending — especially to herself. Her breath caught, and suddenly, Regina couldn’t swallow.

* * *

 

Nothing had gone well the entire day, and as far as Regina is concerned, it was all Robin’s fault. He’d rattled her, it was one thing that he was an insolent thief yet protective father to turn into a living, breathing man who seemed to be attracted to her. But it was entirely another things for her to respond to him.

There was nothing serious between them—couldn’t be. But she just can’t help but respond to his kisses, his touch, and her body is a traitor with him. It was just a matter of shaking off this constant rattled feeling. So, she’d withdrawn. Specifically, she tried holing up in her bed chamber almost all day.

Regina was all for denial and hiding out but a woman couldn’t even be a hermit in peace around here.

She between the main castle at Snow & Charming’s side. Clouds had started building before noon, and now they were chasing across the sky, tumbling over each other, bringing a storm in their shadows.

Since she’d been chased out and cannot even go horse-back riding today (as well as trying to avoid Robin) she figured she might as well suck it up and seek out her step daughter.

She hoped to find Snow alone, but when she poked out her head inside the Throne Room, she spotted at least three people. She shied away from them, and then started walking outside. Trying to walk to the garden was an exercise in getting tripped and sabotaged. Overgrown grass and weed was all over, getting in the way of her gown. Of course, the garden smelled of dirt and earth, nothing more fanciful than that. She wondered where that insufferable thief could be, hoped she wouldn’t have to face him today after what happened last night—

And damn it, she definitely didn’t want to think about Robin.

So she poked and prodded, sniffed flowers and heard Snow’s exuberant voice call out her name.

"Have you seen my peonies? My St. John’s Wort? How about this one? You know what is it?"

Snow pointed to a silver-leaved plant, flowering now with deep, deep blue petals and bright yellow stamens. Regina figured she’d better cater to her.

"No, what is it?"

"Nightshade. There are different kinds of wild nightshade. This silver-leafed one is poisonous, but its already a wonderful, healing herb. People shouldn’t be afraid of it. I mean potatoes and tomatoes are cousin of nightshade, and we all love those. And over here, Regina. Do you know what this one is?"

Regina had barely settled down to study the nightshade before Snow was dancing off, all excited now, fluttering from plant to plant like a butterfly.

"Are you looking?"

"Yes."

Truth to tell, most things in the garden were gorgeous but the plant Snow mentioned of now was uglier than a weed. The leaves were coarse and stiff, and fuzzy.

"Its called a button bush. Reminds me of lavender."

"Are you kidding me? Lavender’s beautiful. This looks something you’d spray to kill."

"Well, I know its not much to look at. But you can’t pamper lavender and you can’t pamper this either. This button bush’ll grow, but only if you create the kind of the same marshy, hostile environment where it grows naturally."

"And you’d do that, why?" Regina asked wryly.

"Because it’s so pretty in dried bouquets. And that’s a lot of why people want herbs. Some for medicine or healing. Some like flowers. Some want them for spices. But some just like to dry them, and these buttons really add something cute in the bouquet."

"Okay." Regina interrupted her before she could go on another endless tangent.

"Everything you’re doing is cool, Snow but have you ever thought of trimming some of those overgrown bush and weed around?"

"Oh. Yes. Those." Snow started to pinch a brown leaf here and there. Kept on the move. "But since were back here, and with the threat of the wicked witch, everybody was all about patrol and security. I might ask one of Robin’s Merry Men to help."

Just the mention of Robin made Regina’s heart jump.

"Anyway,are you feeling better today?"

"I’m fine. I’m always fine," Regina said impatiently.

"Well then, I guess I’ll leave you now to your gardening." she said and walked away.

A blustery storm came and went, making Regina pace like a caged mouse. The instant the rain stopped, she took off and went to the stables and decided to get Kalli and then to her surprise, Robin was there, brushing the mane of her stallion.

"Hey," he said then gave her a small smile. He seemed to be communicating something with his eyes, but she didn’t know what.

"I’m gonna go to the woods for a ride," she said, getting some saddle.

"Then, I’ll be going on a ride with you." Robin said, walking away from her horse and getting another stallion.

"You didn’t have to. I didn’t ask for a companion."

"Well, I wouldn’t get in your way," he said, smirking.

He put a saddle to in the black stallion and she rode Kalli, and he followed. In spite of herself, she almost started to relax… started to feel…silly. Just his quiet company is making her relaxed. No she didn’t need or want people in her life. Ever again. But who is she kidding. She is now stuck with those two idiots and now this thief she cannot help but feel—attracted to. 

The trail into the woods was as familiar as her own heartbeat. She’d forgotten how the narrow trail twisted around the hills, curved into valleys. They passed Firefly Hollow—the name being that fireflies roamed beautifully there at night, and after that came the old man Swisher’s pond—there were lots of ponds in the woods, but Swisher’s had a big old cotton tree with a limb just perfect for swinging into the water. Robin muttered a swearword when his stallion had to jump up on a big rock. They passed a hillside that had red clover and buttercups. Patches of elms and century old trees trees shaded the surroundings, and then the landscape suddenly burst into sunshine.

Off to the left was the tip of silvery lake.

"The view is wonderful," he mouthed. Regina looked back and saw him looking back at her, didn’t want to feel that coil of warmth curl up in her belly when he smiled at her, looked at her, tried to connect with her. She looked away and got down her horse. Robin did the same, and Regina went to a nearby tree to tie Kalli. Robin followed suit and his shoulder’s brushed hers and she could smell his usual, woody, pinesy scent, his skin, even beyond his tunic and his leather vest, felt the nearness of him like a voltage charge in her pulse. 

She started to walk towards the lake. Robin said he’ll feed the horses. Everything is fine. She was so sure.

And it was. For ten minutes. Maybe even fifteen. There was no single moment when that changed. Nothing specific to mark the instant when everything started going wrong when suddenly there appeared a boy, in the middle of the field just beyond where the lake goes, his back was on them, wearing a coat. Regina blinked.

Are her eyes deceiving her? She wants to call him out loud, Henry, isn’t it? Then the boy faced her, it was Henry, but he was sneering an ugly sneer at her, and then Zelena’s voice was inside her mind.

_Do you think I can’t play with you, Sis? I know things. I will be playing with you soon_.

Zelena said. And her laughter and words boomed in her mind. It was dark magic. It happened so fast it was all too late, all too late, all too late. Her pulse slammed with panic; her whole body flushed in a cold sweat.

"Regina? Regina, what’s wrong?" She sensed Robin running toward her, heard his immediate calming whisper, but the memories and the apparition were firing at her like machine guns. She summoned the most normal voice she could.

"Nothing, I just need to get away for a minute."

Actually she needed to get completely out of there fast. Now. She willed her magic but she cannot, so she bolted towards the other side of the woods. She couldn’t catch her breath, as if all the air was trapped in her lungs. She heard her heart hammering desperately in her ears, tasted the sick nausea of fear, its not that she feared Zelena, but her using Henry, she felt a choking sensation in her throat. She tripped, almost fell on the ground, and she ran so fast, and out into the deeper part of the woods. Only then did she realize that Robin was right behind her.

The instant Robin realized she was upset, he took off after her, but it wasn’t easy to catch up. She charged running off to a different direction so fast he didn’t know where she might be going with all the thick trees all around. He looked left and spun back, then he caught a glimpse of black—the shoulder of her vest—turned towards a tree.

And there she was. The sun was a red ball, hiding in those leafy trees, dropping fast now. A chill sneaked behind the late afternoon sunshine, putting a brisk bite in the air. And Regina had sunk down on the earthy ground, arms wrapped around her knees, just kind of rocking herself with her eyes squeezed closed. She never opened her eyes, or looked back, yet before he said a single word, she piped up.

"Robin, I’m fine, just leave me be. I just needed some air, just let me be." and motioned him with her hand, sounding aggravated now.

He came closer instead. In a split second—faster than a second—he’d realized he’d fallen so deep and so hard in love with her that he couldn’t think straight. Of course he’d realize he was increasingly miserable around her—but not that he was hooked this hard. It was the look of her. Beneath the regal hairstyle, those red lips and dark make up, it was her soft brown eyes.

Right now those eyes held an ocean of pain and her skin was whiter than chalk. Her hands were clenched in a clear effort to control their shaking, and her frail shoulders were hunched, making her look more fragile, more beaten—and it killed him. Frustrated him. Enraged him. He saw this woman wanting to end her own life because her loss is too unbearable.

"You’re not alright."

"Yes. I’m not. But this will pass in a minute."

Her effort to hide it made him feel sick. He hunkered down on the ground next to her.

"What happened?"

"Its—its Zelena. She used an apparition. She used Henry. I thought I saw him back there, but it was her dark magic. She really seem to know so much of me, and will be using it against me."

He wanted to pull her in his arms so bad he could taste it, but some internal instinct stopped him. He’d pulled her into his arms before, but she might just push him away, like she always did. Regina seemed to treat concern as if it were a poison she could choke on.

"Well, that sounds pretty unfair."

"It is. But I’m fine, I mean, I will be fine, and I will defeat her."

That belligerent chin. That fierce well of pain in her eyes. That soft skin. A mantra kept whispering through his mind with the same old refrain. _Let me love you. Let me help you. Let me protect you and make sure no one ever hurts you again. I don’t have magic but I’ll make do._ But of course he couldn’t make those promises—he didn’t have the power.

Fresh color bloomed now in her cheeks. her hands had stopped shaking. And she was still talking.

"There’s a reason I’m taking so long to get my life back together. It’s about power."

"Power," he echoed, wanting to encourage her even if she wasn’t making a lick of sense.

She nodded.

"My mother raised me to believe that I was powerful. That I would be Queen. I did. I believed I had power over my life, over what I could become, over what I could do. I was raised to believe I could conquer the world—and everyone would bow down before me."

He hung his arms over his knees.

"And they all did."

"But I was wrong. Power took away everything from me. My first love, my son. They took away me. But now, I won’t let my sister use it against me."

Again, he wanted nothing more than to pull her in his arms, to love her. To shield her. The urge was so strong he almost couldn’t suck it back… But damnation, this wasn’t about him, and what he’d always wanted to do. Not now. It was about her. About Regina believing she lost herself. And about a woman who spit back sympathy if you dared try to give it to her.

She then got up, dusted off and walked back towards where their horses were. He will have to talk to her later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I started this fic and I intended to write my own take on Robin/Regina relationship on SB, but sadly now I think this will be the last chapter. If you have read this and liked it, thank you very much! :D
> 
> A/N: Not beta’d, so all mistakes are mine
> 
> Tumblr Link: http://badskin.tumblr.com/tagged/outlaw-queen-ff

They started leading their horses back towards the castle when Robin galloped his stallion right in front of her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I figured we'd go somewhere first for a few minutes—not for long, but I'd like to talk to you where no one's likely to interrupt us."

"Oh well..." She looked as if she considered objecting, then changed her mind.

That didn't surprise him. This time, he knew—he'd always known—that they couldn't continue on the track they were on for long. Being a climb-in-her-bedroom-at night lover had been a lot of fun the first time. And the second. But a romantic impulse was one thing, not being straight about something important was another. He lead his stallion to a far nestle of woods, miles the west of the castle. Several acres of old, virgin hardwoods scattered across a high knoll, then gently sloped down to a spring-fed pond.

Robin got off his horse, and tied it to a nearby tree, did the same with Regina's and helped her down down. Both of them instinctively seemed to follow the trail down to the water, Regina so easily hiking next to him. No matter how hard she was trying not face him and this 'talk' she couldn't, knew they will have to face this 'thing' between them.

The temperature had already kicked up in the past hour, cool breeze fluttered the leaves, allowing the early evening sunshine to shiver through the forest canopy in yellow polka dots. A rabbit scrambled across their path. The air was soft, tender, with floral smells, and the pond was just below them, a diamond, with a whisper of dusk mist still dawdling on the far side. In a curve in the path, they startled a doe and her young fawn, who froze at the unexpected intruders. He glanced at Regina. It hurt his heart, how easily he could share a smile with her, share the magic of the late afternoon.

She belonged to this land, no different than he did. He'd fooled himself into believing she will belong to him. No one to blame but himself for that.

The mama deer finally freaked and bounded off, her fawn gambling right behind her, breaking the moment of magic, silence.

"Roland have talked more and more about the two of us getting together, being together. He thinks the sun rises and sets on your shadow--which is great. I don't know where my boy's thinking is coming from, but as far as I can tell, you're the only woman he gets easily along with."

"That's crazy, Robin. I haven't done anything to make him like me."

He rolled his eyes into the sky.

"I'm not sure you ever see the good in yourself if someone slapped you in the face with it, Regina. That follows through everything else as well. You can't think of a single reason why I've been sleeping with you either, right?"

She edged back a step.

"Of course I can," she said testily. "Sex."

"Regina." He lowered his voice, a full octave. How this woman can easily make him feel these emotions.

"You're coming close to pissing me off. Please don't."

"I'm ticking you off! Try and get this through your head, Robin. I can't do this, relationship and all."

He warned himself that she looked ready to bolt and he needed to keep his cool. But just possibly, he was a ready for a showdown as she was.

"I think its about time you've done feeling sorry for yourself."

"What?!"

"You heard me. I think its time you kicked yourself up. You've been through hell, but you made it through to the other side. You don't need more coddling. You don't even want me coddling you."

"Since when—" her finger started poking his chest hard. "—did you ever coddle me?"

"Since never, as I have said. Because everyone else was doing it. And if all that coddling didn't help you, it'd be fine. But it didn't. In fact, it was turning you into a liar."

"Liar?" Her finger poked him again.

A totally enraged finger.

"I never lie. I'm the most honest person you will ever know, Thief. Or ever know."

"Such bull. When you first came back here, you were beat up, you were like a wild flower, full of weeds and tangles and too choked up to breathe...and way too scared to care about anything. I get it Regina, I understand. I've been hurt. I have lost, but these last few weeks, its not that way..."

"Oh. You think you're going to tell me what I feel?"

"No. But I'll tell you what you've been doing. Lying. Making out like you don't care—about anything or anyone. You care for Snow, how much history you have had with her, and I saw how you cared for my son. How you even care for that stallion, you even named him already. So why don't you just say so? What, do you think Gods will reach down and slug you if you admit to caring about things again?"

"I do not care!"

"And you do not feel anything to anyone right?"

"Right! Exactly right!"

Hell. Arguing with her was complete waste of time. He didn't know he was going to do it—he swore to himself! But somehow he was hard as rock; somehow he was fighting this impossible, powerful urge to kiss her, just as he was fighting to have her in his embrace just earlier, but somehow this time he was going to give into that temptation unless something drastic happened, so fast.

So just as her forefinger was aiming to poke his chest again, he clamped both hands on her waist and lifted her in the air. She shrieked before her boots even left the ground. She was still shrieking when he turned her in a circle—she was light, but not so light he didn't need to build up a little momentum—and then hurled her into the pond.

He knew the pond, but not well enough, but he knew it. Off the shore edge, it went straight down for about five feet. It was a fantastic pond for swimming on a broiling day, because it was spring fed—and because it was getting dark soon. Cold enough to make her nipples pucker, for damn sure. And thinking about her nipples puckering was enough to make his tighten like buttons. She came up sputtering, and oh, she was mad. So, so mad.

He was in awe of the sequence of words she string together. The only person he knew who could get that eloquent with swearwords in a high temper was him. But she was a queen, and the amazing part though, was watching all that passion and fire pouring from a woman who thinks she can't feel a damn thing.

Before Robin could think twice, he heeled off his boots and dove straight in after her. The shock of icy water slapped his every nerve awake. He came up two feet from her, gasping and sputtering. The cold water should have taken care of his arousal. Heaven knew why it didn't. He'd barely hauled in a lungful of air before he felt a punch of water splashed his face. Regina splashed him a second time, then in one long stroke swam closer with the clear intention of drowning him--or at least dunking him good He deserved it, he knew. And normally he wouldn't mind being drowned by Regina--but just then, there was so much more at stake than her momentary temper. So when she clutched her hands on his shoulders, trying to push him down, he kicked them both several feet toward the shore, toward shallower water. The instant he could stand, he dragged her wet body against his. She was right in the middle of throwing him out a new litany of insults when he plastered a kiss on her mouth.

The kiss was so wet and hot that it made steam shoot up his veins, where seconds before he'd been shiver cold. So had she. But she warmed up damn fast, too. When he got around to it, he tore his mouth.

"Show me," he said roughly.

"Show me again how you don't feel, How you don't give a damn."

He kissed her, again and again. He used his body to brace her, to walk her out of the water, climbing to the tall prickly grasses on the shore. Their clothes stuck to their bodies like a soggy glue, miserably cold, but still he kissed her. And she kissed back. Out of nowhere, both of them paused—both heaving from lack of breath--and when they tried to gulp in a fresh batch, her eyes opened. Her gaze lost that sexy, foggy haze and suddenly sharpened as if she remembered how mad she was. Her fist came swooping toward his ears, so obviously, he had to kiss her again. Had to peel of her clothes, the layer of clothes. Had to peel of his.

Darkness was now enveloping them, as dusk begins to fall away, as they sank down. The grasses were rough, tingly against bare flesh, and still both of them came together in a frenzy, rolling next to the pond edge, rolling away, the evening hovering now above them, and as before, nothing mattering more than claiming the next kiss, reaching the next level of hunger, inspiring the next touch. It had never been like this for him. Not even close. His world centered around her taste, her kiss, her touch. For him she was wine, and velvet, moon and sunshine both. She brought him light. She matched him, passion for passion, touch for touch, stroking him as intimately as he stroked her, braving ways to tease him, to take, as he braved ways to fuel sensations and needs in her.

"So do you feel nothing, your Majesty? No cold, no heat. Especially you do not feel anything for me, is that it? Beyond a little sexual urge. You don't want anything to do with me, right?"

"Robin Hood?" She lifted up, her hands splayed in his hair, her eyes, now as fierce as black satin.

"What is it?"

"I've taken all the grief I'm going to take from you. Now shut up and kiss me."

She was so impatient. So was he. All right, maybe he was a little rough, but he could feel the desperation building inside of him. Not just the desperate need to have her, but the desperate instinct that he'd never have another chance. He knew she was healing. He knew she was growing stronger, emotionally, becoming more like herself. She was only a blink away from not needing help anymore. Not needing him. And that was exactly what he wanted. Robin told himself fiercely. He'd never counted on more.

Never.

That was all there was. These moments, with her thick wet hair, she now has unclasped with those pins, ponytail, tangling around his fingers, her soft luscious mouth feeding off his. Her naked body slipped and slid against his, her breasts, sweet to touch, sweeter yet to taste. Her slim legs were made to wrap around his, her hips made to tighten and take him in.

When he first plunged inside her, she let out a soft, hoarse cry that echoed on the spring, evening wind, carried into the canopy of leaves, rustled with longing and need.

"Oh, Robin," she said as he drove deep and hard, and then did his damnedest to drive deeper and harder. He wanted to love her better than her first love ever had. He wanted her to remember a man who'd love her beyond all reason, all sense, on a beautiful evening in the meadow by the pool, brazen with love, inspired by how much he wanted to give her, to show her, to be for her. He understood she was going to always remember the man whom she had lost. But he wanted her to know irrevocably that there was a man who wanted to live for loving her, too.

Because her back had to be scratched up from the grasses, and rough ground, he swung her on top of him and gave her the power and the reins. There was a moment, in all that fierce coupling, all those sweaty limbs and teeth and hot wet kisses, when she lifted her head with a glorious smile for him. And just shook her head to the moon, now peeking from the sky, and let out a wild, joyful, sweet laugh. But then she swooped right back down to him with a wicked glint in her eyes, and that was the end of the smiling.

She took him ferociously, riding him as if she were determined to show this stallion what-for... for damn sure she was going to show this man what a woman could no when she was in the mood. And he held her hips as it swayed and twisted. Needs sharpened, cried between them. Her need was his, no different than his need belonged to her. Hands clasped, lips glued, hips pumped to the same erotic rhythm. She crashed first, one spasm of pleasure cascading into another until she cried out, high and spent. Then it was his turn. His eyelids closed in release, just needing to breathe for a minute. His arms folded tenderly, tightly around her. He didn't want to let her go. Ever. Didn't know how he could. Ever.

But of course, that was passion and love talking. Not reality.

Robin really knew this was their last time—and knew that he had to face that. There was no other choice. So he took this moment...and held on for as long as he could, and kissed her with the utmost gentleness and sweetness, as if there will be no more for tomorrow...

It was indeed the last time they were together, like that.

He helped her with her clothes, and they rode back towards the castle in quiet.

The day after, Zelena paid a visit, and Snow and Charming are having a baby, well surprise, surprise and they had to go break in Rumple's castle, where he is captive on his own home.

The next thing she knew, they were about to cast another dark curse, which she sees fit because now, she won't be dealing anymore with the thief who stole her heart and ignited the passion in her body and soul...Because her memories and feelings will be erased, and for her, its good. It will be all right, she said to herself but deep down inside, she wants more of him, and wondered if she will remember him, her feelings for him, she was left to wonder, but she shrugs it off as this new curse looms upon them...


End file.
